Homeland Security leader to lead UC

The University of California has picked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to be its next leader, choosing a political heavyweight instead of a prominent academic for the post.

Napolitano will make history as the first woman to lead the 230,000-student, 10-campus system if UC regents confirm her at their meeting on Thursday.

"I recognize that I am a nontraditional candidate," Napolitano said in Friday's announcement. "In my experience, whether preparing to govern a state or to lead an agency as critical and complex as Homeland Security, I have found the best way to start is simply to listen."

Initial reactions were largely positive, with faculty and students saying they hoped the high-profile leader's stature would help to promote the university's interests to Californians, the Legislature and the governor. Gov. Jerry Brown praised her "strength of character" and "outsider's mind" in a brief statement about the nomination.

"I think this is the right step at the right time," said Henry Brady, dean of UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy.

The biggest issues facing the complex university system today -- funding and governance -- are political at their core, Brady said. "So let's have a person who is fundamentally political."

The current UC president, Mark Yudof, announced in January he would step down at the end of August, citing health problems. The nomination would bring the secretary to California in the same month.

The former Arizona governor and attorney general was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2008 to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Napolitano led the department through a series of policy changes in the post 9/11 era, including a focus on enforcing immigration laws.

A UC Davis law professor found her selection an interesting choice and a promising one in terms of Napolitano's relative success in one of the nation's top posts.

"I hadn't anticipated this, but it makes a lot of sense," said Kevin Johnson, dean of the UC Davis School of Law. "She's certainly skilled at navigating challenging and divisive political waters. Having a leader who works well with the legislators and the regents is going to be critically important."

"She led a big agency, a controversial agency in a rough period," he said.

Johnson, who has been critical of some Napolitano approaches to immigration, said Friday that Napolitano has "a balanced record in a lot of ways."

"She has done what the president wanted her to do," he said. "She's focused on enforcement, and she's focused on comprehensive immigration reform, trying to help the administration get that passed."

UCD Chancellor Linda Katehi was pleased with the selection of Napolitano, according to a statement.

" I believe Secretary Napolitano will be a transformational leader for the university and I applaud her nomination," she said. "She has run large, complex organizations, and has been a strong advocate for education at all levels from kindergarten to college. With her deep background in politics at both the state and federal levels, she will help the UC system navigate this period of tight federal budgets and continuing reductions in funding."

Napolitano attended Santa Clara University and was its first female valedictorian when she graduated in 1979. She went onto earn a law degree but does not hold a doctorate.

While her public service credentials might give her greater influence on policymakers, Napolitano might face some internal challenges, said John Aubrey Douglass, a senior fellow at UC Berkeley's Center for Studies in Higher Education.

"It might take Napolitano, an outsider to the world of academia, a while to gain the full trust of faculty, and perhaps students," he said.

And some UC students who once feared Napolitano's agency were stunned to hear she could now be leading their university system.

"What madness is this?" wrote UCD student Steve Li on his Facebook profile after hearing of the news Friday morning. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an arm of Homeland Security, detained him for two months in an Arizona prison and nearly deported him to his native Peru before Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced a private bill on his behalf.

Under Napolitano's tenure, Homeland Security implemented a widespread policy of using prosecutorial discretion in dealing with illegal immigrants, saying her department needed to focus its scarce resources on criminals and those who threaten public safety and national security.

She also helped establish a plan last year to provide temporary relief from deportation for thousands of young immigrants who arrived in the United State illegally and who don't have legal status.

But expanding the nation's deportation net to expel more people who had criminal records, Napolitano earned ire from opposite ends of the political spectrum: Republicans who accused her of letting too many non-criminal immigrants off the hook, and liberal advocates upset by the growing numbers of immigrants detained at traffic stops and for other minor violations.

Napolitano told her senior staff on Friday that she would be leaving for California.

"I thank President Obama for the chance to serve our nation during this important chapter in our history," Napolitano said, "and I know the Department of Homeland Security will continue to perform its important duties with the honor and focus that the American public expects."

A student leader from UC Berkeley said she was impressed by what she has read and heard about the system's likely new leader, and that she hoped Napolitano would keep students' interests in mind. Sadia Saifuddin, a UC student regent nominee, said she was pleasantly surprised to learn a woman was in line for the position.